Thanks, a summary, and some other functions might interest you

Dear ,

I wanted to thank you for attending our seminar “SEQ's infrastructure challenges and opportunities toward 2032”. We had close to 90 bookings and the support from councillors Vicki Howard and Danita Parry and in particular the Sports Minister, Hon Tim Mander was fantastic.

I would also like to thank Tony Gleeson, LNP Northern Metropolitan Chair for the concept and doing a lot of the work, and organising the Brothers Rugby Union Club.And of course I'd like to thank most of all our four panellists – Matt Mackey, Michelle Wooldridge, Senator James McGrath and Ross Elliott - who generously gave of their time and expertise.

Tim Mander’s assurances that we are on track to deliver the Olympics on time, with a runway similar to Paris, was good news, and I look forward to him being at the Olympic Stadium for the opening of the games.

The Australian Institute for Progress is primarily interested in housing affordability, where the news was not so good.

Points the panel made were:

Productivity in the building industry has dived with output per person down 58% since 2000 and construction costs are up 32.3% since 2020 with prices expected to keep rising
The CFMEU and the BPIC are part of the problem with productivity, but so is working from home since COVID
We are short 54,000 workers
Current immigration levels are a major issue, but we will probably need skilled temporary migrants to fix the labour shortage
Infrastructure bottle necks are restricting availability of land for new subdivisions and planned communities
Regulations concerning skills make it difficult to employ professionals from outside Queensland
The EPBC unnecessarily holds up developments, while the National Building Code is unreasonably increasing building standards
The high-rise unit market is the only housing market attractive to developers at the moment, but a 2-bedroom unit will start at $1.5 million so it can’t cure the affordability problem
Innovative building methods, such as modular construction, can help to solve the productivity problem, but are resisted by risk averse bureaucracies

Ross Elliott and I both mentioned the Municipal Utility District idea. If you want to know more, Ross’s paper, written for us last year, is a good place to start. It has the potential to unpick the infrastructure logjams (download from here).

You can find out more of our work at www.aip.asn.au.

If you liked last night’s function, you might be interested in other functions we are running. Steve Baxter, a successful Internet entrepreneur who is mentoring other potential entrepreneurs, and was one of the panelists on the Shark Tank, will deliver our McIlwraith Lecture next Wednesday, October 29. Tickets are available, if you could book before COB Friday.

You might also be interested in the launch of Tony Abbott’s Australia: How an Ancient Land became a great democracy which will be at Tattersall’s’ Club on November 25 – time and cost to be determined, but please put it in your diary.

Thanks for attending last night, and I hope to see you again.

Kind regards,

GRAHAM YOUNG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE FOR PROGRESS